Firearms Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2026 — Tasmania
Wrong priority.
Wrong target.
Tasmania is running a $596.7 million deficit, with net debt heading toward $10 billion — and its government wants to borrow tens of millions more to confiscate legal firearms from police-checked farmers, sporting shooters and collectors. Not from criminals. It won't make anyone safer, and whether you own a firearm or not, it's your money. Submissions close 5pm Friday 7 August.
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Most Tasmanians don't own a firearm
This is still your fight
Never touched a firearm? This bill still reaches you — because a government deep in deficit is about to spend your money on it, and you get nothing back.
It's your money
Tasmania is running a $596.7 million deficit, and net debt is climbing toward $10 billion. The state now spends more servicing that debt than on police, fire and emergency services — yet this scheme wants tens of millions more, every dollar borrowed in your name.
It buys no safety
Every firearm in the scheme is registered and owned by someone police have already checked. The criminals running illegal guns aren't in it — and they won't be handing anything in.
It hits working Tasmania
These are working tools on farms, sporting equipment in clubs, and heritage pieces handed down through families of collectors. Confiscating them hurts industries and communities — not crime.
It's politics, not safety
Targeting the state's most compliant citizens placates Canberra and looks decisive — while regional Tasmania keeps waiting for the health, housing and roads funding it was promised.
A $596.7 million deficit. Net debt racing toward $10 billion. More spent servicing that debt than on police and fire — and now a gun-confiscation scheme that makes nobody safer. If that order of priorities looks upside-down from where you live, say so — start with the 30-second petition.
What's on the table
What the bill would actually do
3 July 2026
Draft bill released for consultation
Now → 5pm 7 August
Public submissions — your window to be heard
Late 2026
Final bill goes to Parliament
The vote
Crossbench & Legislative Council decide
Reclassification
Common licensed rifles and shotguns (straight-pull and lever-release types) get bumped to Category C — a licence class most Tasmanians can't hold. Own one now? You could be forced to hand it in.
Confiscation
Can't hold Category C? You surrender firearms you lawfully bought — at a cost the state can't afford, with the funding still being haggled over with Canberra.
Magazine limits
New detachable-magazine capacity limits for some Category A and B firearms — affecting gear many farmers and sporting shooters already lawfully use.
Citizenship rules
Australian citizenship and Tasmanian residency would become licence requirements, with limited exemptions — affecting lawful residents who already passed police checks.
More paperwork
New obligations around lending, storage locations and change-of-details notifications — more administration for people already following the rules.
A national database
Signing Tasmania up to the National Firearms Register — a Commonwealth-linked list tracking the guns, licences and details of every law-abiding owner. Surveillance of the compliant, not the criminal.
✓ THE ONE PART WE SUPPORT
Tougher penalties for stealing or possessing a stolen firearm — including mandatory minimum jail. That targets criminals and the illegal guns that actually hurt people. It's the only part of this bill that does.
Not in this bill: a cap on how many firearms you can own. Labor and others have pushed for ownership caps and may try to add them when the bill reaches Parliament. We'll be watching — and we'll tell MPs to reject any cap amendment.
The case in one minute
Aim policy at the actual problem
Licensed owners are police-checked. Registered firearms are on a government database. Buying guns back from the people who follow the rules does nothing about the people who don't. Public-safety money and police time should go where the risk actually is:
- Illegal & trafficked firearms
- Organised crime & criminal networks
- High-risk & violent individuals
- Enforcing the strong laws Tasmania already has
Buying firearms from compliant owners is not the same as tackling illegal firearms — it's a political gesture aimed at Canberra, paid for by every Tasmanian. Ask Parliament not to pass these wrong-target laws in their current form.
The money question
Millions we don't have. For no gain in safety.
Tasmania simply cannot afford this. The state is running a $596.7 million deficit, net debt is racing toward a record $10 billion, and it now spends more servicing that debt than on police, fire and emergency services. Borrowing millions more to confiscate lawfully owned firearms — which takes nothing away from the illegal market — is money this state does not have, spent on a problem it does not fix.
$596.7M
This year's forecast deficit
The operating deficit in the 2026–27 State Budget — Tasmania is already spending far more than it takes in, before a dollar of this scheme is added.
$10B
Where net debt is heading
Net debt is $8.4 billion and forecast to climb to almost $10 billion by 2029. Tasmania now spends more servicing that debt than on police, fire and emergency services.
$20M+
The scheme's own price tag
The government's own earlier figure for a broader buyback was around $20 million — before admin and enforcement, and still unbudgeted. Every dollar of it would be borrowed.
These figures show the scale of what the state is being asked to spend, and what it cannot afford — cancelling a buyback would not automatically transfer money to other programs. Sources: the 2026–27 State Budget (May 2026) for the $596.7M deficit and net-debt forecast, and Tasmanian Government statements (Jan 2026) for the buyback estimate. All sources ›
The submission deadline is the first fight
Three ways to be heard
START HERE · 30 SEC
Sign the petition
Add your name to the petition to the Premier and Police Minister to drop the Bill — and unlock step two: emailing your MPs.
STEP 2 · AFTER YOU'VE SIGNED
Email your MPs
Enter your postcode, see the seven MPs for your electorate, and send them a message they can't ignore: their constituents are watching.
GO FURTHER · CLOSES 7 AUG
Make a submission
A formal response the government must receive and consider. Our guided builder helps you say it in your own words.
Fuel the fight
This campaign runs on supporters, not sponsors
Every dollar goes to reaching more Tasmanians — advertising, organising and getting the facts in front of voters, from now through the submission deadline and all the way to the vote in Parliament.